title: Biochemical and structural characterization of TLXI, the Triticum aestivum L. thaumatin-like xylanase inhibitor.
abstract: Thaumatin-like xylanase inhibitors (TLXI) are recently discovered wheat proteins. They belong to the family of the thaumatin-like proteins and inhibit glycoside hydrolase family 11 endoxylanases commonly used in different cereal based (bio)technological processes. We here report on the biochemical characterisation of TLXI. Its inhibition activity is temperature- and pH-dependent and shows a maximum at approximately 40 degrees C and pH 5.0. The TLXI structure model, generated with the crystal structure of thaumatin as template, shows the occurrence of five disulfide bridges and three beta-sheets. Much as in the structures of other short-chain thaumatin-like proteins, no alpha-helix is present. The circular dichroism spectrum of TLXI confirms the absence of alpha-helices and the presence of antiparallel beta-sheets. All ten cysteine residues in TLXI are involved in disulfide bridges. TLXI is stable for at least 120 min between pH 1-12 and for at least 2 hours at 100 degrees C, making it much more stable than the other two xylanase inhibitors from wheat, i.e. Triticum aestivum xylanase inhibitor (TAXI) and xylanase inhibitor protein (XIP). This high stability can probably be ascribed to the high number of disulfide bridges, much as seen for other thaumatin-like proteins.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Food Chemistry and Biochemistry, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 20, Box 24633001, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fierens
authors.forename: Kurt
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gebruers
authors.forename: Arnout R D
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Voet
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Maeyer
authors.forename: Christophe M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Courtin
authors.forename: Jan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Delcour
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D003545:Cysteine / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D004220:Disulfides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D043364:Endo-1,4-beta Xylanases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000378:metabolism; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D004795:Enzyme Stability; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007700:Kinetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D013696:Temperature; D014908:Triticum / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D004220:Disulfides; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D010940:Plant Proteins; C003427:thaumatin protein, plant; D043364:Endo-1,4-beta Xylanases; D003545:Cysteine